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Genealogical
Guide to East and West Prussia (Ost- und Westpreussen): Records, Sources,
Publications & Events ISBN 0-971312-2-5
(Library of Congress Control Number: 2003107901)
Sold out. A reprint is likely during the latter half of 2008.
This authoritative, comprehensive 478-page guide is one of few genealogical guides that focus on specific Prussian provinces.
The primary focus is on the more than 100 potentially genealogical useful records which are available from metrical registers to little known publications and collections. These are covered approximately in the order of genealogical utility. In addition, there is extensive coverage of repositories where published and unpublished records are kept and a lengthy historic dateline.
Ethnic groups covered by the guide include the original Balto-Prussians (Pruzzen, Prussen, Borussians); Cours (East Prussian Latvians); Dutch, Flemings and Frisians; Germans; Lithuanians; Poles, Mazurians, Kashubes and East Slavs; Scots and English; and Swedes.
Refugee groups which fled there include Jews; Protestants from the Spanish Netherlands (Mennonites, Reformed, a few Lutherans); Moravian-Swiss-South German Anabaptists (Brethren, who were Mennonites); Schwenkfelders; Czech (Bohemian) Brethren and Bohemian German refugees from the Thirty Years' War; Huguenots from France and resettlers from Switzerland and southwest Germany, as well as medieval Waldensians of French origin, who had survived a refuge in the high Alps along the current Italian-French border; Lutheran Salzburgers; Unitarians (Polish Brethren); and Russian Old Believers (Old Orthodox, Philipponen).
The foreign Reformed were a mixture of refugees and non-refugees: Dutch-Flemish-Frisian; French- and German-Swiss; Poles; Scots and English; and Germans.
Besides an introduction, which includes Tips for Using This Book (Abbreviations and Spelling Variations, Abbreviations Relevant for this Book, and Variations in German Spelling and Terminology) and About Genealogical Publications (Notes on Sources; Introduction to English-Language Publications), the book consists of 26 main chapters, divided into ten parts, 18 appendices, and 50 maps, mostly in black and white. Two appendices list all localities for which the Family History Library has films.
While almost all the publications cited in this book deal only with East and West Prussia, or with indirect immigrants from there (chiefly Volhynian Germans, Russian Mennonites, and Germans from a few other Black Sea Settlements), the kinds of public records that were compiled in the other eastern Prussian provinces since 1815 would be similar in nature.
Table of Contents (Inhaltsverzeichnis) for revised third printing.
The genealogical credentials of Edward R. Brandt and Adalbert Goertz
Excerpt from review by Horst A. Reschke:
If your family history ties are in East and (or) West Prussia, and you weren't quite sure how or where to start., cheer up. More help than you ever thought possible is on the way. Dr. Edward R. Brandt, well-known author and genealogist, teamed up with Dr. Adalbert Goertz, the most prolific writer on the subject of East German, as well as Mennonite family history, to assemble under one cover an astounding reference work.
Overseas distributors in Germany, the UK and Australia may or may not have a few copies left. To find out whether any copies are still available from foreign retailers, check the following:
Germany: Das Buch kann auch in Deutschland bezogen werden von Mennonitischer Buchversand/Waltner Books, Am Hollerbrunn 2a, D-67925 Weierhof (Post Bolanden). E-mail: mennoforsch@t-online.de
United Kingdom: The Anglo-German Family History Society, c/o Peter J. Towey, 20 Skylark Drive, Woolwell, PL6 7SN, United Kingdom. E-mail: petertowey@blueyonder.co.uk
Australia: The Genealogical Society of Victoria, Level B1, 257 Collins St., Melbourne, Vic 3000, Australia. E-mail: gsv@gsv.org.au
© 2005 Edward R. Brandt.
This site was last updated on
October 23, 2007
. Send questions or feedback about this site to erbgergen@att.net.
Earlier versions of this Web site were previously posted at http://pages.prodigy.net/brandtfam/geneal/
and http://home.cwix.com/~brandt@mci2000.com/edward.htm.